Copyright 2014 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Ashley Mello of Naples, left, and Jessica Simon of Marco, both 17, play as a team. USA Volleyball hosted their first-ever Marco Island tournament at the Marriott Saturday, part of the USAV Junior Beach Tour. Lance Shearer/Eagle Correspondent

Lance Shearer/Eagle Corresponden

Copyright 2014 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Copyright 2014 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Marielle Diaz reaches up to block a shot. USA Volleyball hosted their first-ever Marco Island tournament at the Marriott Saturday, part of the USAV Junior Beach Tour. Lance Shearer/Eagle Correspondent

Lance Shearer/Eagle Corresponden

Copyright 2014 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

MARCO ISLAND, Florida - To the long list of organizations that come to meet at the Marriott, the Florida cattlemen, the national florists’ association, and the NFL, add another one — USA Volleyball.

The USA Volleyball Junior Beach Tour came to the Marco Island Marriott on Saturday, for their first ever Marco tournament.

“This is the biggest junior beach volleyball tour in the United States, and the training ground for U.S. Olympic beach volleyball,” said Shaliece Hall. Coach Hall is the organizer of Tsunami Beach Volleyball, the local club that served as host for the tournament.

This was a small tournament, as beach volleyball goes, with 32 girls competing in 16 two-person teams. Boys were welcome, as well, said Hall, but beach volleyball tends to be the province of female athletes. And if the local experience holds true to national form, the next tournament will be bigger.

“Beach volleyball is the fastest-growing sport in the country,” said Hall. The claim of being the nation’s fastest-growing sport was also recently made to this reporter by a publicist for the PBR, the professional bull riders’ circuit, but the two sports could hardly be more different and the PBR, after all, is known for a lot of, well, bull.

Teams traveled to the Marco event from as far away as Tallahassee, but some were homegrown, as well. Jessica Simon, 17, of Marco Island has medaled at previous tournaments including Dig the Beach on Siesta Key in May, with her partner Ashley Mello of Naples, also 17.

“We’ve been to some tournaments on the east coast where there were nets lined up as far as you can see,” said Val Simon, Jessica’s mother, watching from a beach chair beneath a shaded pavilion.

Brianna Correa, 17, of Fort Myers also has a Marco connection; her dad, Alejandro “Alex” Correa, is a Marco Island firefighter. Briana is in the upper echelons of junior beach volleyball players. She has accepted a scholarship to Tulane to play the sport. Her partner, Brooke Kuhlman, 17, a Naples resident, is another star on the beach; she will be going to Florida State University on a beach volleyball scholarship.

“A lot more females play this than males,” said Brooke. If the boys did show up, “we would kick their butts,” she said, theoretically at least. Actually men and women play separate events and do not complete against each other.

Beach volleyball, with only two per side, is fast-paced, with each player involved on every point. Height helps, especially at the net, but hustle is paramount. One good sign of a hardworking beach volleyball player is a good coating of sand on their body.

And there is plenty of body to be coated. The girls compete in skimpy bikinis, which might have contributed to the fast-growing popularity of the sport, and could cause the players skin care issues in years to come.

Taking cues from the stars of the sport on television, the players constantly high-fived, both their own teammates, win or lose after most points, and the competition, whenever they changed sides or after each game.

When the final results were tallied, Correa and Kuhlman won the 18 and under division. First place in the 14 and under division went to Maylin Bouffard and Kaitlyn Watkins. In the 12 and under division, Briana Diaz & Isabella Lizaso took first.

“In the overall tour, the winners will receive a bid to the Nationals,” said Hall, which will be played in Hermosa, California, in the summer of 1015. “We’re trying to bring a higher quality of volleyball to Southwest Florida.”

Copyright 2014 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.